Experimental drug developed in Sweden could revolutionize diabetes treatment of four million Britons

A new type of drug that forces the body’s muscles to absorb excess blood sugar could revolutionize the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

The investigational drug, codenamed ATR-258, is the first drug to act by moving sugar directly from the blood to the muscles. It was developed in Sweden, has been successful in animal studies and is currently being tested in patients.

Around four million people in the UK have been diagnosed with diabetes – most of them have type 2. This is because the body does not make enough of the hormone insulin (which helps the muscles absorb excess sugar from the blood) or the muscle cells do not make it. responds well to insulin.

As a result, sugar (glucose) builds up in the blood – which can eventually damage cells and nerves, potentially leading to eye problems, heart disease, and stroke.

In type 1 diabetes, which is usually diagnosed in childhood, the body does not produce insulin because the immune system attacks and destroys the pancreatic cells that produce it. People with type 1 diabetes need to take insulin every day. Nine out of ten people with diabetes have type 2, but it’s usually diagnosed later.

Risk factors include being overweight, lack of exercise, family history, and high blood pressure. In type 2, the body doesn’t make enough insulin or use it properly — treatments range from lifestyle changes to medications that help the body cope with higher blood sugar levels. Most drugs work by stimulating the insulin system.

But ATR-258, developed by Atrogi, a company founded by Tore Bengtsson, professor of physiology at Stockholm University, is a new class of drugs that bypasses the insulin system. It acts on muscle receptors, encouraging the muscles to take glucose from the blood for use as energy, and further lowers blood sugar independently of the pancreas and insulin.

Studies in rats have shown that ATR-258 lowers blood sugar to healthy levels and improves insulin sensitivity by reducing the amount needed.

About 80 people participate in the trial at CRS Clinical Research Services in Mannheim, Germany.

A new type of drug that forces the body’s muscles to absorb excess blood sugar could revolutionize the treatment of type 2 diabetes (File image)

“Current treatments for type 2 diabetes aim to overstimulate the already dysfunctional insulin system and rarely do well,” says Professor Bengtsson. ‘In the long run this means poor efficacy and risk of serious illness. These problems can be prevented with our treatment.’

Commenting on the research, Dr. Ali Aldibbiat, a diabetes and endocrinology consultant and researcher at Newcastle University in Kuwait, said: “It is exciting to see insulin-independent drugs.

“This allows patients with type 2 diabetes to be treated longer because internal insulin production tends to decrease over time, making other treatments less effective.

“The genius of ATR-258 is that it interferes with the mechanism that allows sugar to enter cells for use as an energy source, a process that would otherwise be completely insulin dependent.”